[jgibson]

Gearing. 99.9% of driving happens below 100kph, so you optimize for that. You start reaching the mechanical and electrical limits if you spin up the motors that fast. You could certainly get a lot faster, but you'd lose out on low-end torque. Either that or you put a gearbox in, but that adds complexity + weight.

[ilovecars2]

Does a P100D have a gearbox? I thought it was single speed. It also has a mountain of torque and power.

[danesparza]

I believe it's a single gear. There are differentials for the axles, but no mention of gearing for the motor itself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Model_S#Powertrain

[rockinghigh]

I expect freeway driving to represent more than 0.1% of all driving.